Zoey in Buffyverse
by iamalice
Summary: Zoey Cabot gets roped into a dimension where her favorite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is reality.
1. Getting Roped Into The Buffyverse

_Zoey Cabot finds herself in an alternate universe where her favorite TV show, _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, is reality._

_This happens in 2010, seven years after the Scooby Gang destroyed the Hellmouth. The comics didn't happen._

**CHAPTER ONE - GETTING ROPED INTO THE BUFFYVERSE**

18 year old Zoey Cabot went over the text she was assigned to read for her biology class – again. The words just didn't make sense to her at all and she didn't understand the context and the foreign words. She felt tired and exhausted.

It had been a rough week for Zoey. Her boyfriend had dumped her, she had had two exams to study for this week, Senior Year was driving her crazy and her parents were in the middle of a divorce. She had recently turned 18, but didn't feel all that adult. Sometimes she just wanted to escape from the mess that was her life, throw away all her problems and do what she wanted to do.

But she couldn't, Zoey knew that. She took another sip of coffee. _OK, _she said to herself, _you can do this. Just concentrate._ But she couldn't get herself to do so. Her thoughts were somewhere else. What was it, anyway? What was it that she wanted to do?

Since she was a little kid, Zoey had always wanted to be a doctor. She had wanted to save lives. And she definitely had the brains for it. Except that lately Zoey had thought about what her life would be like after she graduated. She would get a job, maybe have a good career, maybe get married and have kids, then retire and then die. And that was it? That was her life? That was _all_?

_Maybe I should just start a company_, she thought, _something cool. Who needs this crap anyway?_

She dropped her pencil, stood up and walked into the kitchen. She was craving chocolate.

Her mother was there looking at a cake in the oven.

"You made cake?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Why?"

The Cabots weren't a family that had home-baked cake every now and then. There had to be some kind of occasion.

"No reason."

"No reason?" Zoey furrowed her brow. "We never make cake for no reason."

"Exactly!" Zoey's mother wiped the sweat off her forehead that the hot oven had caused. "We should make more cake for no reason. Or have a barbecue sometime."

"Wow." Zoey sat down at the table. "So you're going to the I'm-getting-divorced-so-that-means-I'm-going-to-change-who-I-am-phase."

"The what?" Zoey's mom laughed.

"I read about it in gossip magazines. You know, women cutting their hair after a divorce and stuff… But the thing with the cake, that's a new one."

Mrs. Cabot sighed. "I'm sorry we're doing this to you."

"Oh, I'm glad we're having cake."

"You know what I mean." She smiled. "Thanks for handling all of this so well."

She nodded. "Yeah, no problem. Um, I gotta go. I have some more stuff to do for school."

Zoey went back to her room. Though she seemed to be quite OK with the divorce, she didn't like to talk about it.

She looked at her school stuff, and then shook her head. She didn't get it anyway, so what was the point! She looked into her shelves and sat down in front of her DVD collection.

Maybe _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ would cheer her up. It was her favorite TV show. Her older cousin had showed her some episodes a few years back and Zoey had immediately gotten addicted. She took out the Season 7 box and decided to watch the very last episode of the show. Buffy telling Spike she loved him almost brought her to tears every time she watched it.

After the episode ended, Zoey watched the credits. She was too tired to stand up and take the DVD out of the player. Or was it something else? All she knew was that she wasn't able to stand up.

After the credits ended, something odd happened. The screen was black, but somehow Zoey felt drawn to it. She got closer to it. Suddenly she heard voices. It sounded like Sarah Michelle Gellar, the actress who had played Buffy.

"We don't –" The voice stopped. "I was there yesterday. I'm telling y–"

Zoey understood snippets of a dialogue. She could also hear the voices of the actors that had portrayed Willow, Xander and Dawn. What episode was this?

Suddenly, the four of them appeared on her screen. They looked different that on the TV show though. They looked older. Zoey was confused. What was this? Some kind of feature? Why had she never seen it before?

And the next thing Zoey knew was her standing in the same room with the four characters.

_...to be continued! Stay tuned to find out how Zoey reacts to entering the Buffyverse..._


	2. How Do You Know Us?

**CHAPTER TWO - HOW DO YOU KNOW US?**

She must have made some kind of noise because Buffy, Willow, Xander and Dawn immediately turned around as soon as Zoey appeared in the same room with them. Buffy immediately took her shoulders in her hands and pressed her against the wall.

"What just happened?" Xander asked.

"I don't know," Buffy pressed Zoey harder to the wall, causing her to gasp for breath. "Who are you? Or should I say, _what_ are you?"

"If you…" Zoey gasped. "Let me… talk… please."

Buffy slowly let go of her. Zoey coughed a couple of times, then looked at the four friends.

"Talk!" Buffy commanded.

"Buffy?" she asked, "Buffy Summers?"

"Yeah," she said. "Now, who the hell are you?"

Zoey shook her head. _This must be a dream_, she thought. She pinched herself a few times.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked.

"Pinching myself," Zoey murmured abstractedly, "This is obviously a dream. I must've fallen asleep during homework." _Wow_, she thought, _I'm actually talking to them_.

"What?" Xander came closer. "I think you need to tell us where you came from."

Zoey looked up. She noticed he was still wearing his eye patch.

"I don't know," she said, "I was watching, um… never mind. And then, suddenly, I'm here." She shrugged. "And now I won't wake up!"

"OK, I don't understand a word you're saying," said Dawn. Wow. She had _really _grown. Zoey looked at her more closely. Her hair looked gorgeous with the curls in it and, damn, were those Prada shoes?

"What have _you_ been up to, Dawn? Where are you working?" Zoey asked in surprise.

"How do you know my name?" she asked insecurely. _Ah, there she is_, Zoey thought, _innocent, insecure, little Dawn. It's really her._ "And Buffy's?"

"Oh, I know all of your names," Zoey replied cheerfully. _Well,_ she thought, _if I won't wake up anyway, this is kind of a nice dream. Why don't I just enjoy it while it lasts! _"Xander, Willow…" She nodded towards them.

Buffy pressed her against the wall again. _Wow, that feels awfully real for a dream_, Zoey noticed. "Stop it," she gasped.

"OK, why don't you just tell us who the hell you are. And how do you know us?"

"I know you... because you guys are a TV show!" she said, "There's seven seasons. It's called _Buffy the Vampire Slayer._ That is why I know all about you! Since the day you, Buffy, came to Sunnydale until you destroyed the Hellmouth in 2003. And now I find myself in some creepy dream with you guys and I can't get out of it! Would you let go of me now!" She looked at Buffy entreatingly.

"A TV show," Xander repeated and smiled at Zoey like she was a little misunderstanding child. "OK, then tell us something about us if you know us oh-so-well."

_I'm actually loving this_, Zoey thought. _This dream can last as long as it wants! Except for the pain…_

"Well, I know you lost your virginity to Faith," Zoey said, smiling at him, "I watched you die, Buffy. Twice. I watched Spike not be able to bite you, Willow, that one time. I watched you all fight a thousand times and I watched you do magic. I know everything."

"Yeah, that's not gonna cut it," Xander said. "You could be some kind of spy."

"Fine! I watched you and Willow talk when Willow had that problem with Oz where she wanted to sleep with him and he didn't and Willow thought it was because of that werewolf girl, what was her name again? Veronica? Vera? No, _Veruca_, that was it." Zoey really enjoyed the surprised expressions on the faces of her childhood heroes. "Oh, and you know what else I know? Something that will exclude the possibility of me being a spy: I watched you dream." She nodded and smiled in a self-satisfied way. "You know, that one time, when the First Slayer tried to kill you while you were asleep. Willow, your dream was the one with the play and then the scene in the classroom, Buffy, yours was awesome too, you know, with the desert and stuff. Xander, yours was the one where you were in the bathroom and the initiative guys watched you pee." She laughed. "And Snyder was in it and Tara and Willow were in it with their cheesy make-up on. Oh, and I also saw that little thing with Buffy's mom that got you all confused after the dream…"

"What about mom?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, you know," Zoey said, "There was a bit of a sexual tens–"

"OK!" Xander cut her off. Buffy looked at him haggardly. "She's obviously lying!"

"No, I'm not," Zoey said, "I also saw the cheese guy. Hey, have you ever noticed that your dreams had a bunch of prophecies in them? You know, Buffy, in your dream, Riley left the room, a little later he left for real… Oh, Xander, in your dream, Spike was on that swing and he was wearing the suit he wore later when you guys all lost your memory because Willow did that spell."

"Oh my God, she's right," Willow said.

"Told you!" Zoey said.

For a while, all four of them said nothing. Zoey felt self-satisfied. They were clearly terrified.

"It's all true," Buffy said quietly. "It's _all_ true. But Xander, what was that with my mom?"

"We're a TV show?" Willow asked. "That… that means we're not… _real_!"

"No, you're really not." Zoey shook her head. "Sorry."

"I don't understand this." Buffy looked at Zoey in a way that Zoey had never seen her look at anyone on the show before. "I mean, it's a long time ago, but…"

"OK, we need to figure this out!" Willow said, "I… I don't want to be not real! We should–"

"…call Giles!" Zoey finished the sentence. "Right? You guys should totally _call Giles._"

"I was… about to say that." Willow looked down to the ground.

"Wow, it's been so long and you're still depending on the guy?" Zoey said and shook her head.

"OK, we're obviously not a TV show," Dawn said, "She's probably a demon! Some kind of… brain reader or something."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Yeah, that's probably it."

But Zoey could tell that even though Buffy had said that, she didn't quite believe it.

_...to be continued! Giles has some shocking news for Zoey and the Scooby Gang… Stay tuned!_


	3. The Only Way

**CHAPTER THREE - THE ONLY WAY**

"So, we're, uh… We're a TV show. And you don't think this is real."

Zoey was sitting on the couch in the house that Buffy lived in with Willow, Xander and Dawn. As it turned out, they were in Houston, Texas. Buffy was tracking down young slayers who were in need of training. According to Xander, that was all she'd been doing for the past years: Training slayers. He had told Zoey about how she was getting sick of it and how her wish for a normal life still hadn't come true but he had stopped talking about it when he had realized Zoey wasn't really listening.

"Yeah," she nodded. "This is a dream. It has to be. I mean, it does feel pretty real, but…" She shook her head and looked at Xander. "It's impossible. There is no such thing as traveling from one dimension to another. Just like there are no vampires and demons."

"Oh," Xander said, "So there are no demons in your world."

"No, not that I know of," answered Zoey and looked up to the ceiling. "It's broken," she said.

"Yeah, well," Xander shrugged, "I'm not gonna fix that. This house isn't ours. We came here to find a slayer, but she was dead before we even got here."

Zoey looked at him, appalled.

"This sort of thing happens." He shrugged. "The world did get saved… kind of. But we were wrong when we thought the fight was over." He looked deeply into Zoey's eyes and it made her blink. _He has really pretty eyes_, she noticed_. _"There will always be apocalypses, at least for the next few decades. There may be hundreds of slayers out there now, but… there are millions of demons too."

"You seem so serious," Zoey noticed.

"Well, this _is_ serious, isn't it?"

"Things have always been serious for you guys." She furrowed her brow. "But you were still joking. You and Anya…"

Xander flinched when he heard her say Anya's name.

"I– I'm sorry…" Zoey looked down on the ground. She hadn't really been thinking when she had said her name. _That's right_, she thought, _she's dead. She was a real person to him. She has _lived_ in this world. And now she's gone._

"It's OK," Xander nodded. "It's been seven years. I should finally be able to deal with this."

"But you're not, are you? Not really." Zoey tried to make out his thoughts by looking at his face. And it worked. "What happened, it changed you. You're not joking all the time. You're sad and you're pushing the thought of her aside, but it's not helping, is it?"

"OK, you making me feel worse than I already do, that's what's not helping." Xander looked at Zoey again, but this time it almost frightened her.

She gulped. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK." Xander waved his hand dismissively. "I guess none of this is really… _real_ to you, is it?"

She shook her head. For a while, neither of them said anything while Zoey had her first doubts. Was it really a dream? Did dreams feel this real? Was it _possibly_ possible that…?

The sound of the opening door jolted her out of her thoughts. Buffy came in, followed by Giles. He had aged a bit, Zoey noticed, but he still looked as good as before.

"This is Zoey," Buffy said and pointed at her, "Zoey, this is… oh, that's right." She smiled and nodded. "You already know Giles."

"Did you find anything?" Xander asked. He saw the look on his face. "Anything… bad?"

Giles cleaned his glasses. _God, he's never going to get rid of that habit_, Zoey thought. "Yes," he said, "Yes, I'm afraid so."

xxxxx

The Scooby Gang sat down with Zoey and Giles went through a dark, dusty book.

"There is only one record of this kind of dimension-traveling," said Giles, "It happened in 1791 in England. But the woman, her name was Rosemary Keaton, she didn't get roped into a dimension were a television series was reality, obviously. It was a book." Giles turned the page. "The author's name was Jonathan Birmingham. He wasn't remotely famous, but he did publish a book that Mrs. Keaton read. Not many women could read in the 18th century but, apparently, she could, although there is no reason stated here. Huh, I wonder…"

"Giles…," Buffy began with an admonitory undertone.

"Who cares!" Dawn exclaimed, "Some women could read and she was one of them – big deal."

Giles just gave her a look and turned his attention back to the book. "It is said here that the plot of the book was rather violent. When she got out, she was partly debilitated, there were bruises all over her body and she had lost an eye."

"I don't think I'm ever going to read even _remotely_ violent books ever again," Xander said and took a sip of coffee.

"Wouldn't wanna lose another eye, huh?" Buffy gave him a pitiful smile and he smiled back sarcastically. "So, how'd she get out?" she asked Giles.

"We, we will get to that." Giles looked at her reassuringly. "She was chosen to enter that dimension by an ascended demon called Heratos. He is one of the good ones though. He sends people to dimensions created by authors if that dimension is in danger and none of the existent residents can save it. The ones chosen to enter the dimensions are perhaps the only ones able to save it."

Everyone slowly turned around to look at Zoey.

"No," she said. "No, look, this isn't real. You guys don't actually exist, there is no way… no. Just… no." She shook her head. "What could I do anyway? I don't have powers! I'm not more intelligent than any of you!" Zoey started yelling. She was terrified. "You guys are so powerful together and I am nothing! I could never be the one to save this world! It's impossible." She stood up. She was about to walk out of the house when suddenly a thought crossed her mind. She turned around.

"Wait. How do I get out?"

Giles cleaned his glasses. Again. "You have to…," he looked at the book once more to ascertain, "You have to stop whatever it is that's endangering this world. It's the only way."

_...to be continued! What does Zoey decide to do? Stay tuned!_


	4. The Willow And Zoey Bonding Chapter

**CHAPTER FOUR – THE ****WILLOW AND ZOEY BONDING CHAPTER**

Zoey stopped running when she reached a tree she had almost run into. She had been running since she had left the house were the Scooby Gang lived, hoping it would somehow wake her up. But she knew she wasn't going to get out of this universe so soon. She gasped for breath, then looked up and saw a café.

She put her hands in her pocket. She had not eaten in ages and had just enough money for a small cup of coffee.

Zoey sat down in an empty booth and took a sip. She was confused, exhausted and hungry. She probably stayed there for an hour, doing nothing, trying to clear her head. _I'm probably in a coma or something_, she thought, _the dreams you have in a coma can be long and absurd, but they can feel very real at the same time. I read that somewhere._ But deep down, she knew she wasn't in a coma. She knew this was real. She just wouldn't let herself admit it.

"Zoey?"

She startled. When she looked up, she saw Willow wearing a worried face. "What are you doing here?" asked Zoey and looked to the ground.

Willow sat down on the seat opposite to her. She didn't say anything. After a minute, Zoey murmured, still not looking her in the eye, "How'd you find me?"

"I did a locator spell."

"Right," Zoey nodded. "Of course you did."

"Look, I know this is hard for you," Willow said in her sensitive voice, "But we need you, Zoey. You heard what Giles said."

She hushed.

"Alright, fine," said Willow, "You can decide not to talk to us and sit here by yourself, beg for money on the street and never get out of here. Or you can help us try to figure this out and maybe you will."

Zoey finally looked at her. "It's just… hard."

Willow nodded. "I know. I get it."

Zoey agonized for a while. Then she sighed. "OK. I will… try to help you. I mean, I don't have a choice, do I?" She shrugged. "Hey, um… Do you think you can get me something to eat? I'm sorry, but I'm starving and–"

"Oh, of course!" said Willow and stood up. "What do you want?"

xxxxx

"Do you know how to play the bagpipes?" asked Zoey.

"No," Willow shook her head, "But I have always wanted to learn it."

"Yeah, me too." Zoey looked into her bag of fries, grabbed another one and put it into her mouth. "I've also always wanted to learn to juggle. But I never really took the time."

"Oh, I could totally teach you!" Willow offered. "I– I can juggle five balls!" she added proudly.

"Nice try. Magic doesn't count."

"Oh no! No magic involved. Complete magic-free juggling."

"Seriously?" Zoey looked down at her. She was smaller than she had seemed on TV. "That'd be awesome. Thanks."

For a while, they just walked in silence.

"This is nice," Zoey said, "Thanks. You're making all of this a little more… I don't know… I guess you're just making it all better."

She nodded, smiling at her. "No problem."

"Yeah," she looked down to the ground. "So I guess a lot's happened in the seven years I didn't watch your every move, huh?"

"Well, not really," she said. "It was all same old, same old. I mean, there were fights and there were demons that were kinda hard to kill. But it's been less hellmouthy, so we're not as busy as before. We destroyed the Hellmouth in Cleveland, by the way." Willow smiled excitedly. "It was hard, but not as hard as destroying Sunnydale's. That was terrible. I mean, Anya died. And Spike. Buffy was sick and devastated after that, so was Xander."

Spike. Zoey pricked her ears when she heard the name of one of her favorite characters. She had watched the show's spin-off, _Angel_, too, so she knew he was alive. But… did they know?

Had they found out that he hadn't actually died?

"Yeah…" She nodded. "Anya and… Spike. That was… That sucked, huh? Him… dying."

"Yeah. Buffy wasn't herself for a while," she said, "She tried to cover up all her sadness and, well, she did pretty good, but we all knew it was an act."

"Yeah," Zoey said again, "Well, how's she doing now? With the Spike thing, I mean."

"Well, it's been seven years. She's dealt with it. He's gone. He hasn't been resurrected or anything," she added, smiling at me. "Just to let you know that didn't happen."

_Oh my God! __She has no idea!_, Zoey thought.

"Why, was he one of your favorite… characters?"

Zoey could not believe they hadn't found out yet. Hadn't Andrew told them? He knew. Hadn't Angel told them? Hadn't Spike told them himself? _God, the guy needs to swallow his pride and get over his stupid big-exit-theory!_, she thought.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, he was."

xxxxx

Just when Willow and Zoey returned to the house, Xander, Giles and Dawn came out of the kitchen.

"Hey guys," Zoey said. She couldn't help looking at Buffy a little more closely. She didn't know Spike was alive! Or… was he? Was it possible that he had _actually _died in the past seven years?

_No. Please no, _Zoey thought, _That would be… That would suck!_

"I, um… I think I'm gonna help you guys." She smiled. "I…" Suddenly, she saw another guy coming out of the kitchen. "Andrew!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my God," he said, "She knows me. This is creepy."

Buffy smiled. "We filled him in."

"Right," Zoey said. And in that moment, something occurred to her: She _had_ to find out what was going on with Spike. Maybe he could help her.

"Andrew," she said and came closer to him. "Andrew, you and I need to talk."

…_to be continued! Andrew __has some shocking news about Spike for Zoey. Stay tuned!_


	5. The Truth About Spike

**CHAPTER FIVE – ****THE TRUTH ABOUT SPIKE**

"So, um… what do you want from me?"

Zoey was happy to notice that Andrew was still the same old guy: insecure, weird, small, and still going through puberty vocal change.

"I need some… information."

"Why? I thought you knew all about us." Andrew looked to the ground, then up again and down again. Then he made a pseudo-confident face. It didn't fool Zoey.

"Well, I do. But I don't know a thing about what happened in the past seven years, although… I guess you could say it's only _six_ years."

Andrew didn't say anything.

"OK, look. I know that Spike didn't actually die in the Hellmouth. And I know you do too."

Andrew raised his chin. "What… are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to _me_, Andrew," Zoey said, "I know everything. I know you saw him. I _saw_ you see him."

In the following minute, Andrew sighed, stepped from one foot to the other, turned around in circles without knowing it, tried to look confident and failed, thought about possible answers and finally said, sheepishly, "OK. You're right. So?"

"So? I need to know more."

"Why?" asked Andrew.

"Because…" Zoey couldn't think of an answer. "Ugh, just tell me this: He didn't coincidentally… die in the past few years, right? I mean, really die?"

Andrew shrugged.

"OK," she said, "So you're no longer in touch with him."

"Well, it's not like we're friends. I think he thinks I'm stupid." Andrew looked down to the floor. "Can I go now?" He turned to leave.

"No! No, stop. Stop!" Zoey had to pull him back before he could open the door. "Buffy doesn't know, does she?"

Andrew shook his head.

"No one here knows but you, right?"

He nodded.

"Why haven't you told them?" asked Zoey.

"He doesn't want me to." He shrugged. "Plus, now it'd be stupid to tell her anyway."

"Why?" Zoey furrowed her brow. "Why would it be stupid?"

"Spike's like… gone or something," Andrew said, not looking at her.

"Gone?" Zoey looked at him confusedly. "OK, Andrew, I am going to get this story out of you anyway and the sooner I know it, the sooner we'll be done here, so would you please just do us both a favor and tell me!"

He sighed. "Fine. Spike's missing. He hasn't been seen by anyone for the past three years. It was unexpected, apparently. Nothing unusual had happened. Angel was here some time ago and when I asked him about Spike, that's what he said."

Zoey hushed. He wasn't lying.

"Do you think he's… dead?"

"I don't know, OK? Maybe. Can I go now?"

"Yeah," she said after a pause, "Yeah, you can go."

Just before Andrew reached the door, he turned around. "I thought you'd only… like, watched us until 2003."

"Buffy's show was on until 2003," she explained, "There was a spin-off and it was on until 2004. Angel was the main character."

"Oh." He nodded. "OK. Have you told them?"

"No. But I will."

xxxxx

"Angel had a spin-off?" Buffy asked.

Zoey nodded. "In my opinion, he was much cooler in it than on your show. He was all like, 'I'm a vampire with a soul, my life sucks and all I care about is Buffy'. He got more, I don't know… awesome."

Buffy smiled.

"And you're saying the two series are connected?" asked Giles.

"Definitely." She nodded. "Some characters from _Buffy_ made appearances on _Angel_ and sometimes, the two shows shared a storyline. And I just talked to Andrew about a certain scene he was in, so yeah, they're connected."

Andrew looked to the ground.

"What scene? What was it about?" asked Dawn.

"Um, nothing… special," Zoey said, "Angel just had a little run-in with Andrew." She carefully glanced at everyone. She noticed Willow looking at her suspiciously and she quickly pretended to study the handwork of the tablecloth.

"Right. OK, well, thanks for telling us," said Buffy and stood up. "Alright, we really need to find out what's threatening us."

"How?" asked Xander, "I mean, we have no trace."

"We have Zoey."

"Zoey only proves that there is _something_," he said, "There's no link to what it is."

Buffy sighed. "I guess you're right. We should just have a cup of tea instead. It's getting late."

xxxxx

Buffy had gotten Zoey a mattress for the night. But she wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. She was sitting outside with a big cup of tea in her hands, gazing at the world she would now be living in.

"Hey." Willow showed up in front of her and sat down as well.

"Hi," Zoey said.

For a while, neither of them said anything. "Alright," Willow then began, "Straight to the point: You were lying today, weren't you?"

"What?"

"Just a run-in? There was something you left out, wasn't there?"

Zoey sighed. That suspicious look. She'd known.

"I have a good feeling about people lying. What was really going on?"

"It's not important, really."

"Don't say that. Hey, listen," Willow said, "This could be important, even if you're sure that it's not. I… I need you to tell us everything. If there is something you know that we don't…"

"It's a big deal, you know," Zoey said, "I'm not _not_ saying it because I want to keep something from you. I'm not saying it because it might affect and distract some of you. 'Some of you' meaning Buffy."

"Buffy?" Willow asked. "What… what is it?"

Zoey shook her head. "Look, you have enough trouble with me showing up here and this unknown threat. This would just complicate things. Telling the truth doesn't always just simple things up."

"Well, neither does keeping stuff from each other," Willow said.

Zoey shrugged. "OK, fine. You're not gonna leave me alone until you know it, anyway: Spike didn't actually _die_ in the Hellmouth. He came back. And he was with Angel when they ran into Andrew six years ago."

"What?" Zoey heard someone say. But the voice wasn't Willow's. It came from behind them. She turned around and saw…

Buffy.

…_to be continued! Zoey was right: Finding out the truth about Spike will complicate things for the Scooby Gang. Stay tuned!_


	6. Los Angeles Gone Hellmouthy

**CHAPTER SIX – ****LOS ANGELES GONE HELLMOUTHY**

"Spike is… alive?"

Buffy looked at Zoey in disbelief.

"Yeah." She nodded, looking at Willow as if she wanted to say _See? She's getting all worked up over this. I told you this was a bad idea!_ "That is, if he didn't die in the past six years," she continued, "We don't know that. And Andrew said he'd disappeared, so…"

"How did he come back?" Buffy asked. Her body was shaking so she sat down with Zoey and Willow.

"Um, this amulet he was wearing," Zoey explained, "It was sent back to Angel and then the amulet activated and Spike appeared in his office."

Buffy was still speechless.

"At first he was a ghost, but then Angel's people managed to give him back his body."

"He didn't _die_?" Buffy asked, still not completely believing it.

"Oh, he did, he just came b–"

"Who cares!" Buffy exclaimed, stood up and walked in circles. "But it's impossible. He would've told me."

"Well, he wanted to," Zoey said, "But then he decided not to because he wanted you to remember him sacrificing himself to save the world. He didn't want you to know that he didn't _actually_ die to save it."

Buffy furrowed her brow. "What? That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard!"

"Right there with you, sister," Zoey agreed. "While you figure this out, I'm gonna go to bed. It's been a long day."

"Wait." Buffy grabbed her arm – a little too tight for Zoey's taste. "What else do you know? About his disappearance?"

"I know nothing about that," she replied, "Maybe Andrew does though." Buffy let go of her and she went inside to go to bed.

xxxxx

When Zoey woke up the next morning, she didn't know where she was until it hit her: She was in the Buffyverse. And she'd just slept and she'd just woken up and she was still there.

Yawning, she got out of bed, stood up and walked into the kitchen. Buffy sat there with a bowl of cereal, by herself.

"Morning," Zoey said.

Buffy looked up. "Oh. Hi."

Zoey opened the fridge and poured herself some milk. "Still thinking about the Spike thing?"

She nodded.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like that."

"I just wish you would have told me," Buffy said.

Zoey sighed. "I just think that Spike probably has his reasons. And now he apparently disappeared… it wasn't right to tell you. Especially now with this major threat coming for us that, apparently, _I_ am supposed to stop."

Ignoring that last sentence, Buffy turned around and looked at Zoey directly. "I talked to Andrew."

"Oh," she said, "Did you find out anything else?"

"No. But then I talked to Angel."

"Oh," Zoey said again, "How did that go?"

Buffy smiled. "First, I yelled at him for not telling me. Then I asked him about the disappearance and he swore he didn't know anything." She shrugged. "There's no trace at all. The cleaning lady probably wiped away his leftovers with the other dust already."

"Buffy, you mustn't think like that."

"I _have_ to think like that," she said resolutely, "You were right. This Spike thing will only distract me anyway. We need to go to LA though."

"You're going to LA?" Zoey asked, "Can I come?"

"Sure you'll come. We can't just leave you here." She smiled. "There is weird stuff going on there. It's like Sunnydale in 2003 when the Hellmouthyness drove everyone insane. You know, kids become more violent, people become invisible, there's just a lot of weirdness going on."

"Oh," Zoey said, "Do you think it's… you know, the thing I was sent here for?"

She shrugged. "It's possible."

xxxxx

The decision was made quickly. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Zoey flew over to Los Angeles right away. The Gang immediately drove to Angel's place. He wasn't working at Wolfram & Hart anymore, he had his own little office where he solved crimes. On their way, Zoey noticed the undeniable amount of evil weirdness. Two cars had crashed into each other right in the middle of the street, guys were obviously threatening some old guy with a knife and you could hear screams everywhere. Zoey was terrified.

When they arrived at Angel's place, Buffy rang the doorbell and he opened.

Angel was probably the only character Buffy had met so far who hadn't aged a day.

"Hey," he said, nodded to everyone and then looked at me. "You must be Zoey."

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Well, come on in."

They followed him into his little apartment. It was a mess but he didn't bother apologizing.

After the "Oh my God, everything smells like evil round here, what are we gonna do?"-talk that didn't really solve anything, Dawn decided to take Zoey for a little walk around town.

"They all need to relax," Dawn said as they were passing expensive designer stores. "Plus, even though I'm not fourteen anymore, they still don't like me around while making plans to take down the forces of darkness." She said that last bit with a sneering undertone.

"Why not?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe because I don't care as much as they do. I mean, of course I care if the world ends or not, but… it's not my whole life."

"Yeah, let's talk about your life," Zoey said, "Your clothes look expensive."

She laughed. "They are. I, um… I'm running a PR firm."

"Seriously?" she said.

"Me and a couple of friends," she said. "It started off as a stupid idea but then my friend Kirstie inherited this huge building that turned into our office and before we knew it, we got ourselves an own company."

"Wow," Zoey said, "But… you're so young."

"I know," she nodded, smiling. "And it's a lot of work, which is why I have to work all day. No matter where I am, I always have to take my laptop and my phone with me. And if I do happen to have some free time, I'm buying new shoes. Ooh, look." She pointed to a Jimmy Choo store. "Aren't these _gorgeous_?"

"Yeah," Zoey agreed. _And_ expensive.

"Um… I'll be right back, OK?" she said and opened the door to the store.

"Sure, I'll just…" Dawn was already gone. "…wait here." Zoey shrugged. The store was on a main street, but there was an alley on the left. Zoey took a few steps, just to see if there might be any stores of her price range. But it was only a street with a bunch of private houses. It was almost empty, she only saw one person who was wearing a leather coat and had light blond hair. She walked back to the Jimmy Choo store. Then something hit her. _Waaaait a minute_, she thought._ Leather coat and blond hair?_ She walked back into the alley and after a few moments, she caught a glimpse of the person's face.

Zoey had to grab hold of to the wall. It was Spike.

_...to be continued! What will Zoey do? Why was there no trace of Spike? Can Zoey really save the Buffyverse? Stay tuned!_


	7. The Invisible Alley

**CHAPTER SEVEN – ****THE INVISIBLE ALLEY**

_OK, Zoey. Just relax. It's just… __Spike. I mean… Oh my God, it's Spike!_

Zoey watched him sit down in the middle of the pavement, taking a bottle of booze out of his pocket and drinking a big mouthful of it.

Slowly, Zoey came a little closer. When she was only a few inches away, Spike quickly stood up and showed her his game face. At first, she startled, but then she just looked at it in fascination. Sometimes, it had looked so unrealistic on TV. But now, it was here, right in front of her. She wanted to touch it. Know what it felt like. She slowly raised her arm.

"What are you looking at?" Spike suddenly said. Zoey quickly dropped her arm and then looked him in the eye. For a long time.

Spike eyed her confusedly. His game face disappeared. "Oh," she said, "I wanted to see it!"

"What? Who…?"

"The face," Zoey explained, "Oh, and in case you were trying the whole scaring people into giving you money thing – it's not gonna work on me, Spike."

He was speechless for a moment. "Have we met?"

"Oh, no." Zoey waved her hand dismissively. "At least not really. Look, what are you doing here? I heard you're missing. No one knows where you are! Angel doesn't and…"

"Oh, alright." Spike laughed, nodded and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. "So you're one of Angel's people, huh? Must've told you a bloody lot about me. How'd you get in here anyway?"

"Huh?" she asked, "In here? It's a free street. Anyway, it's a long story. Now, why are you hiding?"

"I'm not _hiding_," he said to Zoey as if she was a little girl, "And I'm not talking to you."

"Really?" Zoey said, "You don't wanna know how I know all this stuff?"

"You're one of Angel's bloody people, I got it!" He turned around to walk away.

"No," she corrected him, "Angel's people weren't around when Buffy told you she loved you, were they, Spike?"

He stopped.

"And they also weren't around when you were alone with her and you gave her that amazing speech, like 'You're one hell of a woman, Buffy'? You know, back in Sunnydale, few years ago."

He slowly turned around and looked at her.

"Come on," she said, "I'm sure Dawn would be happy to see you. She's right around the corner." Zoey pointed in the direction of the main street. "She's grown, you know. You should see her."

Spike didn't say anything. Then he walked over to Zoey, very quickly, and stopped right before her face. "Who are you?"

"Just someone who knows stuff," she replied, "I can tell you the _whole_ story if you come with me now. And trust me, it's good."

Spike smirked and shook his head. "Look. You are–"

He was interrupted by a voice. "Zoey? Zoey, where'd you go?"

It was Dawn. "Crap," murmured Zoey, "OK, Spike, I mean it. You have to come with me."

Spike shook his head again. "No."

"_Zoey!_"

She strived. Then she got an idea. "OK, look. I'll tell you the whole story and… anything you wanna know. I will be right here tomorrow night at eleven. It'd be nice if you'd choose to show up."

Spike didn't give her an answer.

"I'll be there," Zoey said, then she walked back to the corner where she found Dawn.

"There you are," she said, "Where were you? I was kind of worried."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just…" She couldn't think of anything to say and shrugged. "Never mind. Hey, show me what you bought!"

xxxxx

The next night, Zoey told everyone she was going to go out to shop a little. After all, she didn't have time to pack before she entered the Buffyverse, so she just claimed to get some clothes and toiletries. Buffy had asked her: "Do you have to do that _at night_?" Zoey had had a hard time talking herself out of that one. But she had. And now she stood in the alley where she had seen Spike the night before.

She had brought a cross and holy water she had taken from Buffy. Just in case.

Now she stood at the exact same spot she had seen Spike the night before. Every thirty seconds, she looked at her watch. It was ten past eleven already. Was Spike punctual? She didn't remember anything regarding that from the show.

Suddenly, someone showed up in front of her. She startled, but she was glad when she realized it was Spike.

She smiled. "You came."

"Well, didn't have anything else to do. Fellow's gotta keep himself busy." He shrugged.

_Liar_, Zoey thought.

"Um, OK," she said, "So, straight to the point: Why are you hiding?"

"How do you know all about me?"

"Why are you hiding?"

"_How do you know?_" He came awfully close to her face.

"Will you knock it off?" Zoey said with a certain annoyance in her voice. "You're not scaring me. Can we just talk about this?"

"Fine." He sat down on the floor and lit himself a cigarette. "So," he said, "Tell me…, Zoey."

"Fine," she said as well, and sat down with him. "I just recently entered this universe. I'm from another dimension where you were a TV show character."

"What now?" Spike said.

"See, I told you it's a long story. I'll tell you the rest of it if you tell me why you're hiding."

Spike looked at her for a moment. Then he sighed. "I'm bloody stupid to be telling you this," he said, "It was three years ago. Normal day, you know. The usual. Angel pissin' me off. So I went out…" He coughed. "And some fellows come out of nowhere and throw stakes at me. Can you believe that?" He shook his head in disgust. "So I have these stakes everywhere in my body – major pain –, so I run and I yell at them and they tell me they won't stop until I'm _dead_." He drew on his cigarette. "So I fight them – of course. But then I see loads of them. Hundreds, I'm telling you. So I get away, hide somewhere, spend the day in some hut in this alley right here. And the next night, I get up, go to town to get blood and they're there again. They're following me." He threw the cigarette on the floor. "They still are! They just don't get tired of it." He stood up and kicked a dumpster. "Can you believe this? I'm hiding. Me. Normally, I'm the one who goes out there and fights until these _bloody_ demons are dead. Now look at me." He let himself fall back on the ground. "This is worse than when I had that chip in my head."

"Can't you tell anyone?" Zoey asked.

"I mostly don't get any further than where I am," he said. "They're everywhere. And they're not human. They look like they are, but…" He shook his head. "They're too strong. This alley is the only place I can be."

"Why?" asked Zoey. "Don't they come here?"

"No," he said, "One time, I ran away from them, I ran into this alley, and they just… stopped." He shrugged. "They looked around. It was like they didn't see the alley… or me."

"That's weird." Zoey furrowed her brow. "But doesn't anyone come here?" she asked. "_Ever_?"

"No. Like I said, no one sees this alley. Everyone just walks right past it. And to get myself some blood, I gotta go with the crowd so they don't see me or fight me. Sometimes they do though. Every single time I get out of this one street, I'm risking my bloody life."

"But… I can come here," Zoey said, "I can see this street."

He shrugged. "But no one else can. It's invisible for everyone but me. And as for you… What kind of demon are you?"

"Well, that's rude," Zoey said, "I am not a demon. I'm human, _trust_ me."

Spike looked at me. "You sure?"

She laughed. "Of course I'm sure! But… Do you think it has something to do with the fact that… I'm from another dimension?"

He nodded. "Possible."

"Alright, I gotta go," she said and stood up, "I need to find a way to get you out and to find out who these people are. I have to tell Buffy and Giles and –"

"No," Spike grabbed her leg, keeping her from walking away. "They can't know about me. Something's coming and it's bad. I'm sure Buffy's got enough on her mind. I'm in no real danger here. Don't distract them. At least until all of this is over."

Zoey sighed. "Spike…"

"I mean it." He looked at her determinedly. "Just tell me… How's Buffy?"

She smiled. "She's good."

He nodded. "Good."

"I, um…," Zoey said. "I'm gonna come by tomorrow and bring you some blood."

…_to be continued! Who are those demons and what do they want with Spike? Will Buffy find out? Stay tuned!_


	8. Get In, Get Out, Get In, Get Out

**CHAPTER EIGHT – ****GET IN, GET OUT, GET IN, GET OUT**

About a week had passed and Zoey had gone to see Spike almost every night. She had brought him blood and she had accompanied him. As Zoey found out, not talking to anyone had made him kind of fragile. When she was there, all he did was talk and talk, even though sometimes his words didn't make sense. Every time when he was done, Zoey would leave and just go back to the Scoobies like nothing had happened. She knew the right thing to do would be telling Buffy. But Spike had made her swear not to. She didn't quite get it but she was sure he had his reasons.

When she woke up one morning and got herself some milk out of the fridge, she encountered Buffy.

"Hey," she said.

"Morning."

"Um." Buffy hesitated. "I need to talk to you… about something."

"Yeah," she said. "Sure, what is it?"

"Giles showed up last night."

"Really?" Zoey asked happily. "Is he gonna stay here with us now?"

"Maybe. Look, he kind of… found out… something."

xxxxx

Giles, Buffy and Zoey were sitting down at the table. Giles was nervously cleaning his glasses. "It's about you getting out of this dimension."

"Oh," Zoey said. She realized she hadn't been thinking about it all that much. She had accepted her new life pretty quickly and if she was honest with herself, she knew she didn't want to go back to her world just yet. First of all, there was Spike. She felt like she had to fix his problem before she left. Then there was Willow. The two of them had formed quite the friendship. And Zoey didn't feel like she had spent enough time with everyone yet. Plus, her old, normal, demon-less life kind of sucked. She did think about her parents. They were probably worrying about her. She felt guilty for not really caring. Her life in the Buffyverse had been much more exciting and interesting and even though there was a lot of evil stuff going on, she was happy.

"I met a woman who has got a very special power," Giles said, "She can contact the dead."

"Wow. OK. What does that have to do with me?" Zoey asked.

"Well, she can also get in touch with… ascended demons."

"You mean… like this Heratos guy? The one that sent me here?"

"Yes," Giles confirmed. "I was hoping she could help me get some information and… she did. It was a very intricate procedure. She couldn't understand everything. But apparently, your case isn't quite ordinary. Normally, you have to stop whatever is threatening the dimension you've been sent to before you can escape it, but in your case… you need to get back to your own world and then get back to ours to be able to save it."

Zoey furrowed her brow. "Wait… Repeat that last part, please."

"There is a possibility for you to get back to your own dimension," Giles explained, "Right now. But after you go there, you need to get back to _this_ dimension to save it. There must be something where you come from that will be needed to defeat the threat."

"OK." Zoey slowly nodded. "So you're saying that first I get in here, then I have to get out, then I have to get back in, so that I can get out again?"

"That's about it," Giles said.

"Well, how do I get back to my dimension?"

"I'm not quite sure." He scratched his head. "My friend wasn't able to understand that part. All we know is that it's called 'The Transit' and that it can be used by anyone chosen by a higher power to travel to another dimension. But that's really all we know. Like I said, it's a rather complicated procedure to talk to a dead, but powerful demon."

"Let's say she finds the way to get there," Buffy said. "What would she be looking for, exactly?"

"That's another part that's not quite clear. I was hoping, you, Zoey, could help us with this."

"I– I'll try."

"She got a name, I think. Maybe there isn't some_thing_ you need, maybe you need to _talk_ to some_one_."

"Well, what's the name?" asked Zoey.

"She didn't understand it entirely, but the first name started with a J, and the last name was Whedon."

"Joss Whedon?" Zoey exclaimed.

"Yes, it's… possible."

She stood up from the table. "Yeah, now it all makes sense. But… How the hell am I supposed to get in touch with Joss Whedon?"

"Who– who is that?" Buffy asked. "You know him?"

"Of course I _know_ him. He's the creator of your show!"

xxxxx

Giles and Buffy listened quietly to Zoey, who had figured out the plan.

"It makes total sense! We need to find out more about what's causing this. Then I ask Joss Whedon what would be needed to defeat this evil _if_ it had happened like this on the show. And the whole get-a-bunch-of-slayers-and-destroy-the-Hellmouth-thing won't work because there is no Hellmouth here and we wouldn't really know who or what to kill. Anyway, he would tell me, I'd get back and we could save the world!" She smiled. "It's an awesome plan!"

"Except for one thing," Buffy murmured. "How are you gonna get there?"

"Beats me," Zoey said, "Giles, I know you don't know much, but… I need to know what I'm looking for."

"The Transit is very similar to the Key in that way… you know, what Dawn was," Giles said, "It could be anything."

…_to be continued! Will Zoey find the Transit before it's too late? Stay tuned!_


	9. You Gotta Have A Little Faith

**CHAPTER NINE – YOU GOTTA HAVE ****A LITTLE FAITH**

"_Faith. Her name alone invokes awe. Faith. A set of principles or beliefs upon which you're willing to devote your life. The dark slayer. A lethal combination of beauty, power, and death._ _For years and years, or – to be accurate – months, Faith fought on the side of good, terrorizing the evil community. But like so many tragic heroes, Faith was seduced by the lure of the dark side. She wrapped evil around her like a large, evil Mexican serape. She became a cold-blooded killer. Nobody was immune to her trail of destruction. Not friends, not family."_

_Zoey could see Faith's face right in front of her now. She was speaking to her: "It won't be that easy, Z."_

Zoey woke up very suddenly and sat bolt upright. She could hear her pulse. Her heart was beating loud and fast.

Confusedly she got out of bed, still shaky. She looked at the clock. It was 4:30 in the morning.

She went to the window to get some air and clear her head. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore, so she put on a sweater and pants.

Zoey rubbed her eyes. She had relived a part of an episode, the part with Andrew's voice-over while various clips of Faith were shown. She had seen this before. But she had never heard Faith say that last sentence. And it had obviously been addressed to her. She'd said "Z," as in "Zoey".

She went downstairs, figuring no one would be up yet. But she had forgotten she was spending the nights at a vampire's place. As she reached the kitchen, she saw Angel, looking as if he'd just come home.

"Oh, hey," she said.

"Hi," Angel said, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just… couldn't sleep. It's fine. I'll get something to drink." She opened the fridge. With the Scooby Gang temporarily living here now, luckily, there was something other than blood at Angel's that she could drink.

"Alright." He turned to leave, when Zoey thought of something. "Angel, wait," she said. "Um… How is… Faith?"

"Faith," Angel repeated, dropping his jacket on a chair. "I haven't seen her in a while."

"Well, do you know where she is?"

"No," he said, "I mean, as far as I know, she's not in prison. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just out of curiosity," Zoey lied. "Do you think she's… OK?"

He smiled. "I do."

Zoey looked at Angel expectantly – until she realized it was the whole answer. Right. Angel wasn't really much of a talker.

"Well, good," Zoey said to break the silence, "But you haven't… heard from her? In any way?"

"No." He shook his head. "Sorry."

Zoey nodded. "OK. Well, I'll just go back upstairs then…"

She went back to her room with a glass of water in her hand. Drinking it, she thought about what this dream might mean. Maybe it really was just a dream. _I mean, the Buffyverse is full of evil and weirdness,_ Zoey thought. _At some point it had to come over me._

xxxxx

That night, the Gang decided to go out with Zoey. They went to a club where three people were fighting at the door.

After Buffy got them to stop, they sat down at a table, drank a beer and talked for a little while. After about twenty minutes, Dawn said out loud what everyone was thinking:

"This night sucks."

"Yeah," everyone agreed.

"It's like everywhere you look is evil," she said. "And no one seems to even notice. It's gotten so… normal."

"And we still haven't figured out what's causing it," Buffy said. "This is bad. This is really bad. And now we have to find this Transit thingy so Zoey can talk to the guy that created…" She hesitated. "Me. Us."

"Come to think of it," Xander said, "This guy is responsible for all the crap that's happened to us. Right? All the death, and, and, the…" His fist hit the table. "What was he _thinking_ keeping Andrew alive instead of Anya?"

"Beats me," said Zoey. "Look, don't get all angry. I mean… I'm pretty sure he has no idea you guys actually… exist."

They looked at each other. Zoey sighed. "Let's just… act like everything's normal. We'll find the Transit sooner or later."

"Will we?" asked Buffy. "Because if we don't, we're all doomed."

"We _will_ find it."

Buffy furrowed her brow. "How can you be so sure?"

"How could I _not _be sure?" Zoey asked. "You know, in the show you had to face Gods and the First Evil and all that… and you beat them. Every single time. You never failed. So, yeah, it's kind of hard for me to even _consider_ that we might not make it."

"Well, this Whedon guy didn't write this, did he?" Buffy said. "_This_, right here, isn't on the show. He has no control over this world anymore. Anything could happen and none of it is up to him anymore."

Zoey shrugged. "Well, what am I for, then? I was sent here because some higher power thinks I can save this world. So that's how it'll happen. … Come on, you gotta have a little faith in… well, this Heratos guy. And me. Because I still think that we'll save the world. But first…" She grabbed her bag. "I gotta go get some sleep. I'm gonna go."

"Me too," Xander said.

They all went outside, when Buffy suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Willow asked.

"Shh," said Buffy. They all hushed and heard a noise a few feet away. "I'm gonna go see what it is," the slayer said, "Maybe it's just some guys who took the bar fight outside."

"Yeah, or just some five-year-olds threatening each other with a knife," Xander suggested.

"Well, luckily it's not gotten that far. Yet."

It wasn't five-year-olds. It was a vampire, about to bite a woman. When Buffy ran to them and pulled the stake out of her pocket, the woman grabbed it. "Hey, can I borrow that?" She staked the vampire and he turned into dust. This was the first time Zoey had ever actually seen this live.

The woman slowly turned around and Zoey gasped when she recognized her. "Hey, B," she said to Buffy, "It's good to see you."

…_to be continued! Can Zoey really be so sure? And what was with that dream? Stay tuned!_


	10. Dreams

**CHAPTER TEN – ****DREAMS**

"Faith," Buffy said.

"That's right." She smiled. "What, aren't you glad to see me? Hey." She nodded to Xander, Willow and Dawn. Then she looked at Zoey. "Who's this?"

"This is Zoey," Buffy explained, "She's, um… She's a long story. But, anyway, what are you doing here?"

"It's an apocalypse. You didn't think I'd miss it, did you? I put my vacation on hold to come here."

"Vacation?" asked Buffy.

"I went to see the world." She grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her pocket. "So. Let me guess: You already know who the Big Bad is this time."

"Actually, we don't," said Willow.

xxxxx

"Whoa. I am _not_ some stupid TV show character. Seriously, you gotta be kidding me."

Faith was leaning back on a chair at Angel's place, her feet on the table, and a cigarette in her hand.

"Well, it's true." Xander said. "And she knows all about us. It's creepy sometimes."

"That _is_ creepy," Faith agreed, looking at Zoey suspiciously.

Zoey didn't really listen to their conversation. She just thought of the dream she'd had the night before. She hadn't really thought of Faith that much during the time she'd already been in this dimension, and then, all of a sudden…

Normally, Zoey would think: _It's not possible. This dream couldn't be prophetic or something._ But in this world, it was different. She knew everything was possible, even stuff like raising the dead.

"Uh, guys," she said, "I'm really gonna go to bed now. It's been a long day."

Willow looked at her worriedly. "Is everything OK? You look kind of… exhausted."

"I do?" Zoey asked. "Well, I guess I am. I'm gonna go upstairs. Nice… _meeting_ you, Faith. You know, in real life."

Zoey went up to her room. Willow followed her.

"What is it?"

"Are you ill or something?" asked Willow.

"What? No." She shook her head. "Why would you say that? Look, I really didn't wanna spend all you guys' money on make-up. It's probably just my face…"

"That's ridiculous. It's not your face." Willow stepped a little closer. "Something's wrong… or different. I can feel it. Are you sure you're not sick?"

"Well… not really. I mean, I coughed today. Once."

She shook her head. "You're going through some sort of change."

"Change," Zoey repeated. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're right, you… you should sleep."

"Right," Zoey said, a little confused. "See you tomorrow."

xxxxx

_People. Lots of them. They were riding a truck. Only three of them were sitting in it, the others were sitting on the roof of the truck, yelling, laughing, pointing guns at the frightened people on the street. Zoey could hear gunshots that were fired into the air. Suddenly, the truck stopped and the people jumped down from the roof and started shooting random people._

Zoey gasped when she woke up from the dream. Her heart was beating fast, again. She was breathing so hard she thought she was about to pass out. She held her breath for a moment, then she exhaled and slowly calmed down.

Her legs were shaking and she found it hard to stand on them, let alone walk on them. She grabbed hold of the doorknob so she wouldn't fall. Zoey slowly turned around to look at the clock. It was 3 o'clock in the morning.

She sighed and sat down on the floor. It was like the more sleep she got, the more exhausted she became. And there was nothing she could do about it.

She rubbed her eyes, stumbled to her bedside table and emptied a glass of water. She was beyond tired, but she didn't want to fall asleep again. Not if it meant that it would exhaust her and that she would wake up having panic attacks.

xxxxx

"So tell me again why we're doing this," Xander said, trying to keep up with Buffy. A whole day had passed during which Zoey had tried resting without actually sleeping. Now the sun had gone down and Buffy had a plan to get at least a little closer to the Buffyverse's threat.

"Well," she said, "When I was out on patrol the last few nights, I found a spot where a lot of vampires and demons hang out."

"Great," he said, getting a stitch. "Why do _we_ have to come along again?"

"We" meaning Xander himself, Willow and Zoey.

"_Because_ I need a witch, ergo Willow, and you and Zoey wanted to come along. Remember, Xander? You said: 'Oh, come on, Buffy! You can't _exclude_ me like this. Besides –'"

"Alright, alright," he gasped. "Why do you need Willow again?"

"Because there must be a reason that that's exactly where their spot is and not somewhere else. I was hoping she could… _sense_ something. I'm getting a feeling there's some kind of… source there. I don't know, maybe it's ridiculous, but we don't really have any other clues."

After a lot of walking, Buffy suddenly stopped. Zoey looked around and to her surprise, they were standing right in front of the invisible alley. But it wasn't the entrance from the main street. It was the other side. Zoey looked into it. She saw Spike, but he wasn't looking at them. He was breaking a bottle. _God, that guy must be so bored!_, she thought.

Then suddenly she realized that Willow was looking right into the alley as well. Oh God. Could she see it?

"Whatcha looking at there, Will?" she asked as casually as possible.

"Nothing," she said, "I – I mean, I'm not sure. There's something there."

But before she could continue, they heard noises. It was a truck coming towards them. And to Zoey's horror, she had seen this scenario before.

It was them. The people on the roof of the truck, the ones with the guns.

"You – you gotta stop them," she quickly said to Buffy, "They're gonna kill everyone!"

"What?" Buffy asked confusedly. "How –"

"_Now!_ I'll explain later."

Buffy ran towards the truck, and as some of the people were getting off of it and started firing, Buffy punched some and knocked them unconscious.

Zoey looked into the alley and saw that Spike stood almost right next to her. He had obviously heard the noise and had come to see what was going on.

"What are you all doing here?" he asked, not looking at her. He was looking at Buffy and Zoey saw the most loving expression on his face.

"We're, uh…"

"She looks good." Spike smiled. "I haven't seen her since –"

"Yeah, that's great. Listen, are those the guys that are after you?"

"Who are you talking to?" Suddenly Willow appeared next to her.

"What?" Zoey asked.

"You were talking to someone." She furrowed her brow. "You said: 'Are those the guys that are after you?'"

"Did I?" Zoey asked sanctimoniously. "You know, I sometimes say weird stuff and…" She knew Willow wasn't buying it. "Alright." She gave up. "I'll tell you. Later. As soon as Buffy's done with those guys."

"No, you can't tell her!" Spike said.

"Yes, I _can_ tell her, alright? And I will. It's time. If those are the guys that are after you, you could be helpful, not distracting."

"Zoey!" Willow said, "Who is there? I knew there was something. I sensed it before. Who is it?"

"Willow…"

"Zoey, you have to tell me!"

"It's alright," Spike said and to Zoey's surprise, Willow turned around. Spike had stepped out of the alley, now visible to everyone.

"Spike?" Willow said. Her voice was only a whisper.

"It's me."

"Where were you?"

"In here." He pointed to where Willow could only see a wall.

"Oh my God," she said, "Zoey, how could you –"

"Spike?"

Another person had seen him. Buffy had just beaten almost all the guys unconscious, but she couldn't focus on them anymore now. She was slowly walking towards Spike.

The two of them didn't even notice Willow, Xander or Zoey anymore. They were staring into each other's eyes again, just like they had over seven years ago.

…_to be continued! How does the return of Spike affect Buffy? Will the Gang finally get closer to the Big Bad? Or will everyone be too busy buying presents and decorating the Christmas tree? That's right. __It's a Buffy Christmas. Stay tuned!_


	11. A Very Buffy Christmas

**CHAPTER ****ELEVEN – A VERY BUFFY CHRISTMAS**

"How long have they been in there?"

"I don't know. Pretty long."

"What do you think they're doing?"

"Oh, I think I know what they're –"

"Xander!" Willow nudged her friend. "They're probably just… catching up."

After carefully dragging Spike to Angel's – the "people" had gotten up again and had thrown stakes at Spike –, Buffy had pushed him into her room and she had shut the door. The Scooby Gang, including Angel, was sitting downstairs, making suspicions.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us!" Dawn said, hurt. "How long have you known about him?"

"Not… that long." She sighed. "Look, he asked me not to tell you, OK? He thought it would complicate things. And I think he was right, considering how long he and Buffy have been in there…"

"Maybe we should go check if everything's OK," Willow suggested.

"I'm sure everything's fine," said Angel, who hadn't been very talkative the whole time. "I don't hear any punches or yelling… anymore."

After the sounds of breaking things, the slayer and the vampire had fallen silent. Zoey couldn't even hear them speak. It was absolutely quiet.

"I don't care. I'm going up there." Dawn stood up and after about a second, everyone followed her. She knocked on the door.

After a pause, Buffy answered: "What is it?"

"Uh, we were just wondering if everything was OK," she said.

"Yeah, everything's fine."

Dawn hesitated. "Well, good. That's great. We'll just… sit down and… drink… tea… or something."

She was about to go back downstairs, when suddenly the door opened, but only slightly. The Gang could only see Buffy.

"Uh," she said, "Dawn, would you like to talk to him?"

For a moment, the sisters just looked at each other, then Dawn slowly started walking into the room.

xxxxx

"It was weird," Buffy said, "You know, seeing him. After all this time. When Zoey told me he was alive, I imagined us meeting again. But I didn't imagine it like this. I thought we would have so much to talk about. But… we hardly talked at all." She shrugged.

"Well, you should give it some time, Buffy," Willow said encouragingly, "I mean… this is normal. Right? This was a shock for you."

"Yeah, I guess," she said, staring to the ground. "I just… I feel like we lost something."

"Oh no!" Zoey said, "You and Spike didn't lose _anything_! You _can't_ have lost something!"

Willow and Buffy stared at her.

"I – I mean… That would be sad. So," she said, changing the subject, "How are we celebrating Christmas, huh? Because when the show was on, there was always a break during the holidays, so…"

"Christmas. Right. Um." Buffy brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I, uh… I don't know. I guess we'll get a tree or something." And then she left.

Willow looked after her worriedly, then turned her attention to Zoey. "This is bad! Buffy's getting all worked up over this."

"Are you surprised?"

"Well, no. I just…" She shrugged, making an adorable Willow-face. "I guess I thought it would be… different. Easier."

"Morning, ladies."

Willow and Zoey turned around quickly when they saw Spike. Zoey looked at the clock. Damn, it was almost six in the morning. Besides her brain, her sense of time had gotten pretty messed up in the Buffyverse. She was always staying up at night, and when she was sleeping, then it wasn't for long and she woke up having panic attacks.

"Hey Spike," said Willow, trying to sound all calm and natural. "So, how did your… chat with Buffy go? Or whatever you were doing."

"Not great." He opened the fridge. "Oh, blood. I'm guessing that's Angel's." He looked at the cup for a moment, then he shrugged, grabbed it and took a sip.

"A little more specific, maybe?" said Zoey.

He sighed. "Didn't she tell you? We hardly talked. It was bad." He looked at the ceiling. "Not really the heart-to-heart chit-chat I was hoping for."

"Well, give her some time," suggested Willow. "She'll come around."

"Maybe. As far as I know, she's pissed at me for not telling her about me not being dead earlier. Can't blame her for that."

"_Really_ can't," Zoey said. Spike looked at her.

"What? I just… Ugh, never mind. You know what? If you guys are refusing to decorate the house and get a Christmas tree, I'll do it."

Spike looked up. "It's Christmas?"

Willow and Zoey glared at him.

"How was I supposed to know?" he defended himself. "Didn't have a calendar in that alley!"

xxxxx

"Wow," Buffy said.

"I know, right?" said Zoey, smiling proudly.

"_Wow_."

"You've said that befo–"

"I cannot believe you did this!" Buffy looked at the fairy lights, the tree, the little Santa Claus figures, the pseudo-presents (they were basically just wrapping paper filled with Styrofoam), and all the stuff Zoey had bought.

"I took a little money from your purse. I'm sorry. I –"

"This is beautiful!" Buffy smiled. "Thanks, Zoey."

"No problem. First I thought, well, Angel probably isn't really the Christmassy kinda guy, but then I figured, what the hell."

"Look at those adorable decorations!" Willow said.

"The figures are kinda cheesy," said Faith. "The little wings right there aren't really my style. Good job though."

"I cannot believe it's gonna be Christmas Eve tonight," said Dawn, typing stuff on her phone. "Time goes by so quickly. I didn't even manage to get you guys presents yet!"

A choir saying "Ugh, me neither!" resounded.

"Me neither," said Zoey, "I'm sorry. I just kind of… forgot over the whole decoration buying thing."

"Oh, that's OK," said Willow, "You've already done so much."

"Yeah," Zoey said, "Hey, Willow, can I talk to you for a second?" Not even waiting for an answer, she grabbed her arm and pulled her into a room.

Willow looked at her. "What's going on?"

"Well," Zoey said, "I'm kind of worried about something. Remember when you said something weird to me, like that I was going through some sort of… change?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded.

"Um… The thing is, for some time now, I have been having… dreams."

"Dreams," Willow repeated, "Don't you normally have dreams in your world?"

"Oh, I do. I just… They're prophetic."

Willow furrowed her brow. "What?"

"The night before Faith showed up, I dreamt about her. And remember those guys that came along when we… when you… uh, found Spike? I dreamt about them too, and lately also some other stuff. Little stuff. Like, remember when Dawn grabbed the butter and accidentally dropped it? I had dreamt about that the night before. That was a little weird. But, anyway, after I wake up from such a dream, I am _exhausted_ and totally out of my mind. It's really terrible."

Willow looked graveled.

"The point is… It really, really, _really_, really, really… freaks me out."

Willow hushed for a moment. Then something seemed to occur to her. "Oh."

"What?"

"Oh!"

"What do you mean, 'Oh'?"

xxxxx

"A slayer," Zoey said, sitting at the kitchen table with everyone. "I cannot be a slayer. First of all… I'm not from here. Not from this _world._ I'm from a slayer-free world. And even if it was possible… I'm not that strong. I can't run very fast, I – I don't even have perfect eyesight. Any potential slayer needs to be like… strong and stuff, right? It can't be true."

"Well, the higher powers have their own plan of who they make a slayer and who they don't," Buffy said, "It's not just about that. I have met _plenty_ of slayers who, at first sight, didn't seem perfect for the job: chubby girls, emotionally unstable and kind of violent girls – prime example for that right here."

"Hey!" Faith threw a chip at her.

"The point is, there is _something _special about that girl. It can be strength, yes, but also intelligence or good thinking or a certain way to handle things."

"And it all makes sense now," Willow added. "Slayers have prophetic dreams, but you probably know that. And that change I was sensing…"

Zoey sighed. "We don't even know _for sure_ –"

"Well, then let's try it." Faith stood up. "Come on. Hit me. Show me what you got."

"What?"

"Come on!"

Everyone was looking at Zoey, so she slowly stood up and looked at Faith. "Oh, I can't. I –"

"Punch her already!" said Dawn.

"Fine." Zoey clenched her fist. She had never hit anyone before, not really. And to be honest, she wasn't really looking forward to doing so. Yes, she had thought about what it would be like to be a slayer. She'd always thought that it would be really cool because she would be all strong and everything, _but right now everything just seems too real to find it in any way "cool," _she thought.

"Alright, I'll punch her." And then Zoey punched her. She punched Faith. Just like that.

After doing so, she was totally shocked about what she'd just done. She had pushed Faith to the wall, which had caused some figures to fall down.

Faith rubbed her nose. "Yeah, there's no doubt, Z."

"Oh God," she said. "I'm a slayer."

"Welcome to the club," Buffy said.

After a moment of shock, Zoey slowly started smiling. "Dude, that is _so_ cool!"

xxxxx

When the morning of the 25th arrived, Zoey woke up feeling all new. She had probably been a slayer for several days already, maybe weeks, but knowing it somehow made her feel a little less terrified. Well, but only a little. She couldn't help thinking that the higher powers (Zoey slowly started getting sick of that term) had given her slayer strength because she would have to fight at some point. But she didn't want to think about that. At least not that day: Christmas day.

She put on some clothes and opened the door. "Merry Christmas!" she said to Buffy, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Faith, Giles, Angel – and Spike – who were already sitting downstairs. "Is it so late already? Why are you guys all up?"

"Oh, it's pretty early," Dawn said, "The undead guys just wanna get some sleep afterwards." She was sitting closely next to Spike. The sight of the two of them made Zoey smile. She had always loved the bond between Spike and Dawn and seeing them reunited was almost as amazing as seeing him with Buffy.

"Right." She walked downstairs and sat down next to her. "Is there food? Sorry. I'm just kind of hungry."

"Yes, there is," Xander answered, "Willow made –"

A loud crash interrupted him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

"I don't know." Angel quickly got up to check. But before he could reach the door, it got smashed.

It was them. The demons that looked like humans. The ones who were after Spike.

"Let's try out those slayer powers," Zoey said and stood up.

"No." Buffy pulled her back. "Stay here. These guys are serious." She ran to the no more existent door and kicked and punched the guys, so did Faith. Zoey felt a little left out, but chose not to say anything. She would just stay with the other Scoobies. _Like the big protector of the defenseless ones or something_, she thought. _This is one merry Christmas. Is this what it's like in the Buffyverse every year?_

She couldn't even spend any more time thinking about that, because her powers were already needed. There were so many of the demons, all heading towards Spike. Zoey did the best she could, causing them to fall and hit their heads. Her moves weren't as great as Buffy's or Faith's, but hell, they had had over a decade of training. Sometimes she just punched them and punched them without actually planning to kill them. She knew they were evil, but she really didn't want to kill at that point. She didn't want to kill _anyone._ Or any…thing.

Spike was defending himself now too while Willow tried to make herself useful by doing a spell that would create a barrier, so the demons wouldn't be able to come any closer.

They were after Spike. The Gang was just in the way. He was their main target. And maybe he could take one of them, possibly two. But not a hundred.

…_to be continued! Will the Scooby Gang be able to defeat them? How will Zoey adjust to being a slayer? When will they finally __find the Transit? Stay tuned!_


	12. The Transit

**CHAPTER ****TWELVE – THE TRANSIT**

Willow opened her eyes and the demons that were coming towards Spike suddenly stopped in front of the invisible barrier she had created. The Scooby Gang tried to defeat the ones who had already gotten further.

Zoey felt insecure about what to do. Without a real plan, she punched some of them while Buffy, Angel, Faith and Spike killed them one by one. She heard the sounds of fists and kicks and then they all stopped.

Buffy gasped. "Alright, we're done with these." She looked down at the dead bodies on the floor. Then she looked at all the other demons trying to get through the barrier. There were so many of them. Angel's apartment was definitely ruined.

"OK, um," Buffy said, "We have to do something. We have to take on the others too!"

"And then what?" asked Spike. "Don't you see how many there are, Buffy? You can kill a hundred, but there'll still be a thousand more!"

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" she yelled.

"I don't know, how about we come up with a plan!" he replied just as loud.

"What kind of plan?" she asked, becoming furious. "This _is_ the plan. Or do you have a better idea? No? I thought so. You're the reason they came here in the first place, I mean, they're clearly after you! You are putting us _all_ in danger, so I don't really think that you get to have a say in this!"

Then they were quiet, just staring at each other. There was tension between them that Zoey couldn't even define. It was Spike and Buffy. It was always complicated.

"They'll leave," Dawn said quietly after about half a minute.

"What?" asked Buffy. She hadn't really listened.

"They'll leave, won't they? I mean, sooner or later they're gonna realize they won't get through."

"Can they even understand us?" asked Zoey. The demons really did look like people, but they looked apathetic. They did not react to anything.

"I don't think so," said Buffy. "I'll go get something to drink."

On her way to the fridge, she had to pass Spike who was blocking her. When he noticed this, he turned around and he and Buffy exchanged a look for about two seconds before he stepped aside and let her get some water.

xxxxx

The demons actually had left. After twenty-six hours.

"They were pretty obstinate," said Willow.

"How long is the barrier gonna last, Will?" asked Dawn.

"I don't know exactly. I'll renew it when it's time."

"For some reason, these guys give me the creeps," said Zoey. "They look like people, but they're like zombies or something."

"Maybe they _are_ zombies," said Xander.

"Right!" said Zoey, smiling. "Zombies exist in this world! See, I almost forgot about that."

She noticed that everyone was looking at her. "Sorry," she said. "Guess that's not helping." She drank the last sip of her coffee. "What the hell…?"

She had almost swallowed a necklace that was at the ground of her cup. Zoey carefully took it out. "Hey, did someone lose a necklace and put it in my coffee?" She looked from the Scooby Gang back to the necklace. "Why would anyone _do_ something like this?"

"I didn't do it," said Willow.

"I don't think any of us did it." Buffy looked at it. "It looks a little cheesy."

"Looks expensive," said Zoey. It had a long silver chain and the pendant was just as silver – except for a beautiful blue crystal in the middle of it. "Hey, let's sell it and make a fortune!"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Willow took it out of Zoey's hand and looked at it. "I mean, stuff doesn't just… come to you, out of nowhere."

"In this world it does."

"Not often," Willow said.

"Let me see that," said Giles and took it. "Well, I don't remember seeing this anywhere before." He hushed for a while, then he looked up.

"Hey, look, it's the Giles-epiphany-face!" said Zoey.

"The _what now_?" said Xander.

Zoey waved dismissively. "Oh, I call it that. He always makes that face when he's just figured something out."

Giles gave her a little smile. "It's still odd to hear you talk about me like we've known each other for years."

"I _have_ known you for years."

"OK," said Buffy, "What's the epiphany, Giles?"

"Right, well. I think, I _think_… that it might be just what we were looking for. Or, well, planned to look for."

"You mean the Transit thing?" asked Zoey.

"It's possible," said Giles.

"Well… how do we know?"

"Maybe you have to put it on," suggested Dawn.

Zoey looked around. "N-now?" she asked. "Wait. _Wait._ We have to talk about this first though, right? I mean, I don't exactly have a plan."

"What happened to talking to the creator of… us?" asked Buffy.

"Yeah, I know, but… what if something goes wrong and I don't come back?"

The sentence just slipped out. Zoey hadn't really thought about it. But then it occurred to her. She didn't want to leave this crazy world. She didn't want to leave the Scooby Gang. And she didn't want anything to go wrong because she also wanted to save the Buffyverse. _Because it's amazing_, she thought. _This world can't end. It's too damn great to end._

"It won't go wrong," said Willow. "And if it does… we'll find a way."

"I don't wanna go alone." Zoey shook her head. "I _can't_ go alone. If I go back to where I came from by myself, I will seriously question if any of this was real."

"Hey, why doesn't Spike come with her!" said Faith.

They all looked at her.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said. "She'll have someone with her, someone strong, plus, these demon guys won't be able to kill him, or us. I don't think they're gonna be able to follow him into other dimensions."

Zoey looked at her. What she said made perfect sense. She looked at Spike. "Would you come?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I could get away from this barmy world."

Zoey smiled. "It's a great world."

"A– are you sure?" said Buffy quietly to Spike.

Spike looked at her surprisedly. "I can stay," he said, "If you –"

"No." Buffy shook her head. "No, I guess it's better if you go."

"But you can't let anyone take a picture of you or anything. Don't even show your face. People might recognize you."

"What?" asked Spike.

Zoey sighed. "There's an actor in my world who looks exactly like you, just a few years older and not peroxide blonde, remember!"

"I was played by a mortal?" he asked.

"Of course you were played by a mortal, Spike, there are no immortals in my world! I think." Zoey looked at the necklace. "OK. Do we just… put it on?"

"I guess," said Buffy.

Zoey put the chain around both her and Spike's neck. They just stood there, wearing the very same necklace. For three minutes. Zoey laughed a little. "OK. It's obviously not the Transit. That would've been a huge coincidence anyway. And we were worried about all this stuff…" She shook her head. "And it's not even… whoa."

"What is it?" said Willow.

"Did you feel that?" Zoey asked Spike.

"If you mean a bloody needle piercing my head followed by a head rush, then yeah."

"Yeah, that's exactly what it felt like," said Zoey. "Oh my God! This isn't the Transit! This is something that kills peop–"

But Zoey couldn't finish that sentence. Not because she was dying. It was because she felt a jolt and in the next moment she was in her room back at home. With Spike.

…_to be continued! How will Spike adjust to being in this new world? Will they find Joss Whedon? Stay tuned!_


	13. Welcome To My World

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN – ****WELCOME TO MY WORLD**

Zoey looked around. "Oh my God! We're in my room!"

Spike furrowed his brow. "What's that smell?"

Zoey glared at him for a while. "Smell?" she then asked. "My room doesn't have a smell."

He shrugged. "OK then." He took the chain off himself and Zoey. "So, we better not lose this."

"I don't know. Giles said that we'll be forced to come back somehow anyway. But you're right, we better don't leave it here." She put it in her pocket. Suddenly, they heard voices downstairs.

"Oh no." Zoey quickly walked over to the window. "That's my mom. We need to get out of here. I can't deal with this right now. I haven't figured out how to explain my disappearance to her yet." She quickly opened the window as quietly as possible – which was hard because it always creaked when you opened it – and looked down. "OK," she told herself, looking down a little frightened, "I can do this. I can jump. I won't die."

"You're a slayer now, remember?" said Spike, "You'll survive that bloody little jump."

"Will I? Do my powers even work here? Do _your_ powers work here? Wait, will the sun harm you as soon as it's day again? Because that would be a problem."

"Guess we'll find out." Without another word, Spike jumped out of the window. When he landed, he turned around. "Come on now!"

"Do _not_ rush me!"

Zoey lived on the third floor. And under her, there was cobblestone. Hard cobblestone.

Well, at least there weren't any people outside to watch. _Thank God_, Zoey thought.

"OK, I will jump now!" she said, and finally, she actually did. And she landed on her feet.

"Yeah, I think my powers work here," she said, "Otherwise I would have landed on my butt and have a big bruise right now. Which means you'll burn in the sun," she said to Spike. "Great. Well, anyway, we just have to figure out how to get in touch with Joss Whedon. And I have no idea how to do that." She sighed. "This was a stupid idea. We should have thought this through. Wouldn't it be great if he just sort of… came to us like the Transit did? How did that happen, anyway? Your universe is way too freaky."

xxxxx

After an argument about what to do next, Spike and Zoey finally agreed on going to an internet café to find a way to get in touch with Joss Whedon. While Zoey was searching everywhere and calling people, Spike wasn't such a big help.

"Hey, did you know the guy who played me on the telly does _music_? He doesn't have such a great voice, you know. I should know."

"Actually, I should know too because of that musical episode, and his voice is fine."

"Well, I just listened to some songs, and he's bloody _awful_! Bloody gormless lyrics! You know, I wonder how people even come up with this corny rubbish."

"Funny coming from you," Zoey said.

"Hey." He looked at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Zoey laughed. "Please. You think I don't know about your poetry-writing days?"

"What do you mean?" he asked after a pause.

"Oh, come on, Spike, every good vampire show has flashback episodes. Now, focus on what we're _actually_ here for, OK?"

Completely ignoring what Zoey had just told him, he said: "Hey, did you know that me and Buffy as a couple are way more popular than her and Angel?"

_Oh God_, Zoey thought, _of course letting him use a computer in this dimension was only going to lead to him googling "Spike," "Spike and Buffy," "James Marsters" and more stuff like that._

"Look at that!" Zoey looked at his computer screen. _Great_, she thought,_ he figured out that there are clips of him on YouTube._ Spike was currently watching a video with various clips of him.

"People _love _me!" he noticed happily, going through the comments.

For a short moment, Zoey watched the video with him. Then she said: "OK, type 'Angel puppet'."

xxxxx

Meanwhile, in the Buffyverse, Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Giles and Faith just looked at the point where they had seen Spike and Zoey disappear.

"Do you think they're OK?" Dawn asked Giles, "Do you think they made it to Zoey's dimension?"

"It looks like it, yes," he replied.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," he said. "They'll be back soon. I'm sure they're already busy trying to find this Whedon person."

xxxxx

After hours of watching videos – mostly clips that put Angel in a bad light, but also stuff Spike hadn't seen, like Buffy's first days in Sunnydale (which made him a little sad and nostalgic), but mostly stuff that amused him –, the internet suddenly stopped working.

"Oh no," Zoey said, "I _think_ we overstepped our time limit."

"Oh," he said, "Well, we can just pay more money and get more time!"

"No! I mean, yes, but we have to focus. We can't keep watching videos the entire time."

"Right." He nodded.

"Good." Zoey put some more money into the little machines next to her and Spike's computer. Silently, they both googled "Joss Whedon Contact". But after about a minute, Zoey said: "Hey, I just thought of this one video you've still _got_ to see."

"Well, if you say so," Spike said.

"Yeah, but after that we'll _immediately_ get back to work, right?"

"Right."

…_to be continued! Will Zoey and Spike return with a solution in time? The clock is still ticking and if no one does something, the apocalypse will be upon the Buffyverse… Stay tuned!_


	14. More Evil

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN – MORE EVIL**

After a lot of research, Zoey finally got an address. But finding Joss Whedon would mean having to travel to New York. And when she and Spike wanted to get out of the internet café, it was daytime, so they had to stay inside for another while.

"What if we won't make it in time?" Zoey asked, wandering around worriedly. "And what if this address isn't even right?"

"It better be. I'm going to kick that bastard's arse!"

Zoey turned around to look at him. "What? Why?"

"Why?" Spike gave her a look. "You know, that man made my life a living hell, alright? Let monsters and Buffy kick me, let me die, be a ghost, be haunted by the first evil, what do you think I'm gonna do? Give him a hug? Say, 'Hello, mate, thanks for giving me such a great life!'"

"Yeah, I see your point," she said. "But look, we don't have time for that. God knows what's going on in your crazy home dimension right now. We have to find him and ask him what we should do because he created that world and he should be the one to know how to save it!"

xxxxx

Willow was sitting in Angel's kitchen. There were a bunch of dusty old books on the table. When Buffy came downstairs, she quickly closed some of them.

"Hey, Will," she said, "What's going on?"

"Oh, you know, just..." She tried to act carefree, but she couldn't. "I don't know. Not much, apparently." She nervously got up to get a glass of water. "I did a spell. They're both okay, but they don't seem to be anywhere near finding a solution. I tried to get in touch with them, but... considering that they are a dimension away, that's kind of hard, you know?"

"Well, they better hurry." Buffy looked out of the window. "I mean, look at what's happening!"

Outside, kids were fighting. Old couples attacked each other with knives, and it got worse and worse every day.

Buffy shook her head. "We can't wait around for them anymore!"

"Buffy, it's only been like a day..."

"It has, hasn't it? Look around, Willow. All of this gets worse every day. People go, I don't know how much, more evil every day. And people die! All the time. I cannot wait around for them! Do you have any idea what will happen if we just sit here? God, why can't you understand that? Why can no understand that?"

Willow looked at her best friend. She saw tears in her eyes and she looked mad. No, not just mad, she looked really angry. She was raging. She had beaten the table during her speech and she had yelled like she hadn't in a while.

For a minute, they just looked at each other. Then Buffy slowly sat down. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"It's okay," Willow said, comforting her. "It's okay."

She sighed. "Guess not even we are immune to this. Guess even I'm turning evil."

"Buffy," Willow said, "You are not turning evil, okay? You're not." She hugged her. "You're right though."

She looked up. "About what?"

"We have to do something. We can't wait around anymore."

Buffy nodded. "Right. I'll, um... We should discuss this. With everyone."

Willow nodded. "Yeah."

Buffy went upstairs. But she turned around after a few steps. "If they don't find this guy, they're never going to come back."

"They'll find him," Willow said.

Her best friend nodded and continued going upstairs.

"Hey, Buffy?"

"Yeah?" She turned her head immediately when Willow called her.

"I know you're worried that... that you're gonna lose Spike again."

Buffy looked to the floor.

"It's OK," she said. "I get it. But they're just looking for some guy, and they have his name, they'll find him, Buffy. And Zoey's world is so safe! No vampires or demons or anyone coming after them."

"I guess you're right," she said.

xxxxx

When Spike and Zoey left the café that night, they made their way to the train station to get to New York. But only a few feet away from the café, Spike fell down on the ground. A fist had come out of a dark alley.

"Bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed. He was bleeding. Whoever had punched him, must have been strong.

"Are you alright?" Zoey asked. "Who was that?"

"I don't know." He got up. "Let's find out."

"Are you sure that's a good -"

Spike didn't even listen to her. Zoey followed him into the alley and they both finally noticed the silhouette of a woman. She had her back turned, but when Zoey and Spike stood only a few feet away from her, she turned around, smiling at the two of them.

"Hello, my William."

Spike stared at her and Zoey felt a mix of excitement and anxiety.

"Dru," he said. "What are you doing here?"

_...to be continued! How does Drusilla's arrival affect Spike's and Zoey's mission - and her demon-free universe? __And how did she get there anyway? Stay tuned!_


	15. My First Vampire

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN –**** MY FIRST VAMPIRE**

Spike pushed Drusilla against the wall who started giggling in her typical way.

"I have missed you," she said. "But something is different about you. Here." She let her hand slide down his chest. "No. Oh no," she said, looking up to Spike. "You were cursed." She let go of him abruptly. "First Angelus," she said like she was about to cry. "Now you!"

"What are you doing here?" Spike repeated his question.

"Here," she said, "Yeah. Everything's different here. The stars aren't whispering to me anymore. And there was no fear here. No one was scared."

"Was," Spike said, "What do you mean, 'was'?"

She looked up. Her sad expression faded and she put on a bright grin. "He was scared." She pointed at a man with a bite mark on his neck who was lying in the quiet street with his eyes closed. Zoey had to gasp when she saw the body. Seeing something like this in real life was a whole other thing than seeing it on television.

Drusilla had noticed Zoey's gasp and looked at her for the first time. She looked curious. As she came closer, Zoey stumbled a few inches back. Drusilla giggled.

"Little girl's afraid." She smiled and put her fingers on her face. Zoey couldn't breathe for a moment. There was something hypnotizing about Drusilla. And it disappeared right away when Spike pulled her away.

"How did you get here, Dru?" he asked, staring into her eyes angrily.

"I don't know," she answered and looked up. "Suddenly, the daisies didn't sing their little song anymore. I don't like this world. No." She shook her head more than a couple of times.

A thought suddenly entered Zoey's mind and she looked up. "When?" she asked, "When did you get here?"

Spike looked at her. "Zoey, I got this."

She shook her head. "No, this is important." She tried to swallow as much of her fear as possible and came a little closer. "When did you get here?"

"Before the day came," she said and Zoey was relieved that she actually even answered. "Didn't have anywhere to go while the sun was out."

Zoey turned to Spike. "She must have come here the same time we did!"

"That's not possible, she can't just... come here. She doesn't have the bloody Transit!"

"I guess neither do we."

Spike looked at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure, but... We were supposed to look for it! Instead, it just came to us. We should have known it was a trap. I mean, what if some kind of... higher evil power or whatever gave this to us so we would come here."

"What, with her? Bollocks! You think they're going through all that bloody trouble just so she can kill a few people here, like this dead fellow?"

"Oh, he won't be dead for long." Drusilla smiled and pet the young man's face. "He will rise again. So will they."

Drusilla pointed at two other bodies in the street. "I must bring the fear to this world, William. There's no fun without it."

Spike slowly looked at the bodies and then back at Zoey, who gave him an I-told-you-so-look. "You see my point now? Apparently, someone wants to bring evil into all dimensions until there is no evil-free one left and that someone is using my dimension-travelling situation to do it."

"You know, you've got some brains," Spike said after a moment.

"Thank you! Now, let's stake those people to keep them from rising again." He looked at her. "What, you think I don't know that works? Angel was about to do it to Darla once, but then he got all sentimental and couldn't do it before..." She pointed to Drusilla with her head. "...she showed up."

Spike smiled, then he beat Drusilla to the wall.

"What has happened to you?" she asked sadly. "Trying to save humans." She pushed him away. She was clearly stronger than him. Spike stumbled a few feet. "You. You got a soul!" She kicked him, causing Spike to yell. "After what happened to Angelus, it was my worst nightmare!"

While Drusilla continued to kick and beat Spike, Zoey broke a wooden fence and walked over to the dead man with her newly made stake. But she wasn't cooler about staking him than Angel was. Although she didn't know the man and he was already dead, the thought of driving a stake through his heart made her nervous. Thoughts like "What if he's not really dead?" rushed through her mind.

She fell back when suddenly the man's eyes opened. She got up as quickly as she could. _Okay_, she thought to herself, _Stake him. You're a slayer. He's a vampire. He's evil. He could kill people. You can keep that from happening. You have power. _But while she motivated herself, thoughts like _He will go to hell. That poor man did nothing wrong and if I stake him, he will go to hell_ came to her mind as well. But there was no time to think anymore. She turned around. Spike was on the ground and his body was bloody. He couldn't help her. She turned back to the newly turned vampire. She did not have a choice. And she had known that the day that she would have to stake a vampire would come.

But first, she had to kick him. Beat him. Run away at times. She didn't trust her powers or herself. The fight went on for a while – too long. And there was no one to protect her. The only one who could was unable to move and the only other one around was an insane, dangerous vampire. She had definitely never been this scared in her entire life. And she just couldn't seem to find a way to stake him. When Buffy did it, it looked so easy. _Come on_, she said to herself, _Think! What would Buffy do? God, I need a videotape like the one Spike had of Buffy in the episode 'Halloween'._

Now, the vampire stood right behind Zoey and had his arm wrapped around her neck. As he was about to bite, Zoey shivered and did the only thing that would save her: She kicked him in the crotch.

She turned around and was both proud and relieved to see the vampire in enormous pain. She used this to beat him to the floor. She placed her foot on his waist to make sure he didn't get away and – unlike Dawn and Buffy – she didn't miss the heart when she staked her first vampire. When he turned into dust, she fell down because his body had just disappeared under her foot – which she hadn't been prepared for, although she had seen it so many times.

When she got up, she saw Drusilla coming closer, looking right at her. _Oh no_, she thought. She could take a newly turned vampire, but there was no way that she would have even the slightest chance against Drusilla. She looked at Spike, who was slowly getting up. _Very_ slowly. Zoey was freaked out. She had nothing to protect herself. Not even –

Wait a minute.

She reached into her pocket and felt relief once again when she realized it was a cross. Buffy had given it to her some time ago. Drusilla was only a few feet away, so she grabbed it and took it out of her pocket. Drusilla stopped coming closer. Zoey held the cross as tight as she could, so she wouldn't lose it.

Spike hobbled, but he came to pull Drusilla away and beat her until she was hardly able to fight back.

"Wow," Zoey said, "Where'd you get the power to do that so quickly? You're injured, we have to get you some blood!"

He shrugged. "If you're angry, you're capable of a lot of things."

"Angry?" she asked.

"Yeah. She was going to hurt you, or... worse. And if you weren't here, I wouldn't be feeling so great. I mean, you helped me when I was in that alley. You kept a secret for me. And I don't think I'm half as smart as you are."

Zoey smiled.

"Never properly thanked you though."

"Well, if that is the 'Thank you,' then you're welcome."

"You also did pretty well with that vampire."

"You saw that?" she asked.

"Yeah. Couldn't get up yet, but my eyes worked."

"Well, thank God! I want to tell everyone about how I was all brave and stuff, but it would have been stupid if no one had witnessed it! Now, come on, let's get you some blood."

"We've got to do something about the dead fellows first. And about her." He pointed at Drusilla.

"Right." Zoey looked at her. "Can't we just lock her in a cage or something?"

_...to be continued! How will Zoey and Spike get out and save the Buffyverse? Stay tuned!_


End file.
